NEW YORK - Wearing his full road gray Nationals uniform, right-hander Max Scherzer went through a full bullpen session Saturday afternoon as he recovers from a mild rhomboid strain that has had him out of the rotation since July 26. "Good, got off the mound, progressing to where I want to be," Scherzer said of the session. "Turned the corner a few days ago, started playing catch, getting through the ball again. This is the next step to getting on the mound, made sure to throw a bullpen,...

Stephen Strasburg notched his 100th win as a member of the Nationals Tuesday with a 9-5 comeback win over the Chicago White Sox. But it certainly didn't start out feeling like a good night for the right-hander. The White Sox were able to plate four runs on three hits in the first inning, highlighted by run-scoring singles from James McCann and Eloy Jiménez, and then a somewhat surprising two-run single with two-outs and the bases loaded from No. 8 hitter Yolmer Sánchez. Just like that,...

With Sunday's 9-6 win over the Miami Marlins, the Nationals have an opportunity for their first four-game series sweep of the season and their first four-game series winner since May 10-13, 2018 at Arizona. The last four-game sweep at home was April 30-May 3, 2018 over the Pirates. The last time the Nats swept a four-game set versus a divisional opponent was April 11-14, 2016 over the Braves. Outfielder Juan Soto continued his hitting run with another single in the ninth inning Sunday. His...

Right-hander Max Scherzer started the 89th All-Star Game and finished two innings. He allowed an Aaron Judge solo shot, one of only two hits in his outing. Scherzer struck out four batters and walked one. The AL defeated the NL 8-6 in 10 innings thanks to All-Star Game MVP Alex Bregman's tiebreaking solo homer in the 10th. The 14 runs were the most combined runs scored in an All-Star game since 2002. The walk Scherzer allowed came in the top of the first. After striking out Mookie Betts and...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Even facing two pitchers that were on target, it would be hard to ignore the Nationals struggles on offense against the Rays. The Nats fell 1-0 Tuesday afternoon, just 17 hours after an 11-0 shutout. The offense mustered five hits in the two-game series. Sure Blake Snell was good, and so was Nathan Eovaldi, but the Nats went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and struck out a whopping 23 times in the series. They went three-up and three-down 11 times in 18...

BALTIMORE - It took until late into the night May 30, but the Nationals are back in first place in the National League East. The Nats won their sixth straight with a 2-0 dispatch of the Orioles on the road, behind eight shutout innings from Max Scherzer (9-1). The Mets grounded the Braves 4-1 in Atlanta, thanks to a pair of RBIs from Brandon Nimmo and Adrián González. Atlanta's loss and the Nats win provided Washington with a 1/2 game lead in the division at the start of play May 31. It...

BALTIMORE - Max Scherzer was outstanding again facing Baltimore. The right-hander twirled eight shutout innings against the Orioles, allowing only two hits in lifting the Nationals to a sweep of the series in a 2-0 win. Since joining the Nats, Scherzer (9-1) has now pitched at least eight innings in four of his five starts against the Birds. He struck out 12 batters on Wednesday night, the third most he has punched out this season. He managed at least one strikeout in every inning. Manager...

MIAMI - Manager Davey Martinez spoke before Friday's game about how hard Michael A. Taylor has been working on having quality at-bats as he attempts to get out of a rough patch at the plate. Taylor was hitting only .157 with 22 strikeouts in his last 15 games. During batting practice, Taylor showed aggression in his swing with back-to-back homers over the center field wall, well past the 407-foot marker. That seemingly transferred to the game. In the second, facing Marlins starter José...

The originally scheduled game tonight was slated to begin at 7:05 p.m., with a gem of a matchup: Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer (7-1, 1.69 ERA) against the Yankees left-hander C.C. Sabathia (2-0, 2.23). But rain is again in the forecast, so the 5:05 p.m. resumption of the first game of the series (currently in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied 3-3) and that original start time are definitely not set in stone. The subject of preventing Max Scherzer getting burned for that game...

NEW YORK - Despite a rough week for the team overall, right-hander Max Scherzer was himself. And that added up to a pair of wins for the Nationals. Those two starts also garnered Scherzer National League player of the week honors. Scherzer went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA (2 ER/16.0 IP) and 21 strikeouts with only one walk. The first win was a complete game 2-0 shutout of the Braves last Monday. It marks his ninth career complete game. He also struck out 10, giving him 66 career 10-plus strikeout...

Left fielder Adam Eaton demonstrated Wednesday against the Braves that his knee is fine and he can take the hard hit. Eaton dove to his left and stretched out toward the warning track to rob Braves hitter Ozzie Albies of extra bases with a spectacular catch in the third inning of the Nats' 7-1 series finale setback in Atlanta. Eaton had promised that his knee was solid and that he would go all out on every play as he returns from major knee surgery that forced him to miss most of the 2017...

ATLANTA - The Braves took advantage of an early fielding mistake by the Nationals and a rare uneven performance from Max Scherzer in a 7-1 series-clinching victory at SunTrust Park on Wednesday. It was the first series loss of the season for the Nats. Both teams are 4-2, and are tied for second place in the National League East. Spurred by another three-run homer from Preston Tucker, the Braves raced out to a 3-0 lead. Tucker had a three-run shot in Tuesday's 13-6 Atlanta victory. Tucker got...

NEW YORK - After a quiet first two innings, the Nats ignited the offense again with the long ball in the third. Matt Wieters and Michael A. Taylor hit back-to-back homers off of left-hander Steven Matz. Wieters hit his sixth of the season over the left-center field wall. Taylor hit his eighth, an opposite-field jobber over the right field wall near the foul pole. It marked the sixth time this season the Nats have gone back-to-back - the last time June 13 against the Braves, when Ryan Zimmerman...

Chris Speier is substituting for Dusty Baker as acting manager for this series against the Padres. Baker is back in California to attend his son Darren's graduation from high school and will rejoin the team Monday in San Francisco. Speier's job when Baker is here is as bench coach. The Nationals have added co-field coordinator Jeff Garber to assist on the bench for this weekend. Speier said during pregame that his bench coach responsibilities will not change and he will not delegate those...